Team Visma | Lease a Bike joins the women's Volta a Catalunya peloton
May 10 th 2024 - 12:51 [GMT + 2]
The Volta Ciclista a Catalunya is warming up for the premiere of its 1st edition as a women's stage race, which will feature some of the best teams and riders in the world on 7th, 8th and 9th June. Specifically, the Catalan race takes a step forward with the confirmation of the participation of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, one of the great structures of the women's cycling peloton.
The Dutch team, which has recently demonstrated its potential in stage races by taking the final podium of La Vuelta Femenina with the 2nd place of Riejanne Markus, counts on other great names in world women's cycling such as Marianne Vos, one of the greatest cyclists in history with three world championships and more than 250 professional victories, or the young star Fem Van Empel, current World and European cyclo-cross champion at only 21 years of age. In the women's peloton from the 2021 season, Team Visma | Lease a Bike is another major structure with top-level teams in both the men's and women's first division.
The presence of Team Visma | Lease a Bike in the Catalan cycling race is added to the participation of the first division teams AG Insurance-Soudal Team, Ceratizit-WNT Pro Cycling Team, FDJ-SUEZ, Movistar Team, Roland and UNO-X Mobility, adding a total of seven UCI Women's WorldTeam in the registration, the maximum allowed in the category of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, which will have 2.1 category in the UCI international calendar. Nine international UCI Women's Continental Teams and the presence of national teams such as the Catalan Massi-Baix Ter or the Catalan national team, which will have the opportunity to compete against some of the best cyclists in the world, will complete the participation.
New features in the participation
With this addition, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya updates its participation, which as planned will have the participation of seven UCI Women's WorldTeams, the highest category of international cycling. That is why the race has to confirm the withdrawal of the North American team Human Powered Health and the Continental team UAE Development Team, which had been previously announced, for reasons beyond the organisation's control.
The best cyclists in the world will compete for the first time in an international stage race in Catalonia on 7th, 8th and 9th June, in a route that will start with the first stage with start and finish in Manresa, a second one with start from La Seu d'Urgell and an altitude finish in the resort of La Molina and a last one with start from Molins de Rei and finish in Barcelona, which could not be missed as the grand finale of the Volta a Catalunya.